Sustainability

According to a report issued by the World Commission on Environment and Development, sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Got news or a story idea to share? Contact Glenn Hasek, editor, at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at: editor@greenlodgingnews.com.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF.—Grand Pacific Resorts, a timeshare management company with three resorts in the Lake Tahoe area, presented the League to Save Lake Tahoe with a $1,200 check on June 15, 2015, to support the organization’s advocacy work. The presentation came at the conclusion of a two-day scavenger hunt involving four travel bloggers, who competed to raise funds for the environmental group and the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe.

ANAHEIM, CALIF.—Sixty years ago this month, Walt Disney dedicated his dream project: Disneyland—a land beyond the boundaries of the motion pictures with which he’d made his reputation, a park where families and guests of all ages could be immersed in worlds of fantasy and adventure. As part of its Diamond Celebration, the Disneyland Resort honored 60 years of that dream by announcing “Million Dollar Dazzle” at a ceremony at Sleeping Beauty Castle. Each month during the Disneyland Resort Diamond Celebration, the Million Dollar Dazzle Crew will surprise one or more local nonprofits that exemplify Walt Disney Parks and Resorts’ Better Together philosophy with a $60,000 gift, totaling more than $1 million. Girl Scouts of Orange County was surprised with the first gift. The funds will support the organization’s Comadres outreach program that helps the Girl Scout experience transcend language and cultural barriers for girls in low-income neighborhoods. The ceremony at Sleeping Beauty Castle also included the tradition of playing the recording of Walt Disney’s July 17, 1955 welcome to the first Disneyland guests.

NEW YORK—Skal International, the world’s largest multi-discipline travel and tourism organization, has endorsed Sustainable Travel International’s 10 MILLION BETTER campaign, which aims to monitor and scale up social and environmental benefits from travel and tourism, and to protect the resources on which the industry depends.

ST. PAUL, MINN.—Ecolab Inc. recently released its 2014 Corporate Sustainability Report. This annual profile of the company’s commitment to sustainability highlights how Ecolab helps make the world cleaner, safer and healthier while protecting people and vital resources.

CANCUN, MEXICO—Tres Ríos Nature Park has obtained the permits from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to launch the Integral Project for Coast Rehabilitation of the Tres Ríos Nature Park, a project that will be developed in 2016.

NEW YORK—To mark its centennial anniversary, the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS) is unveiling a new brand and mission to better capture the dynamic innovation of the hospitality industry. HX: The Hotel Experience—Rooms to Restaurants (HX), will debut November 8 to 10, 2015 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City and represents a bold new strategic direction. This multimillion-dollar investment aimed at revitalizing the largest hospitality trade event in North America is founded on the belief that true hospitality is anticipating a guest’s needs to create a memorable and unique experience. To achieve that, HX will focus on innovation, inspiration and information. “Making this enormous change at our 100-year juncture is exciting,” said Anthony G. Mangano, President Syramada Hotel Corp. (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Chairman of the Board for HX 2015. “These are not tweaks or modest improvements. HX 2015 is an entirely new show.” The deep dive transformation from IHMRS to HX called on industry experts, research-based data, and prior-year show assessments to identify what the show could and should bring to the industry.

BUFFALO, N.Y.—Delaware North, one of the largest hospitality management companies serving national and state parks, recently announced a lineup of environmentally-friendly initiatives it is implementing across its parks and resorts properties this summer. Among its efforts, Delaware North is expanding a partnership with Tesla, completing a restoration project at an iconic attraction at Niagara Falls State Park and planting the company’s greenhouse for its hospitality operations near Yellowstone National Park. In August, the company will for the first time host a sustainability conference for its environmental managers. Delaware North began its environmental stewardship efforts in the early 1990s at Yosemite National Park and was the first hospitality company in the United States to register its environmental management system (EMS) to international ISO 14001 standards. GreenPath, Delaware North’s award-winning EMS, continues to grow the focus on sustainability initiatives that reduce the company’s environmental footprint and has become an integral part of its forward-looking business operations.

BROOME, AUSTRALIA—Wyndham Hotel Group has announced the signing of a franchise agreement for the 55-key Ramada Resort Eco Beach Broome, an eco-friendly property in Australia that adds to the company’s growing Ramada brand portfolio in the South Pacific. The four-and-a-half-star resort, located just over an hour’s drive south of Broome in Australia’s Kimberley region, provides guests with a beachfront location boasting outstanding views of the Indian Ocean. With a strong focus on conservation, Ramada Resort Eco Beach Broome practices sustainable energy and water use throughout the property, including the use of solar power, fluorescent lighting and recycled water to maintain the property’s expansive landscaped grounds.

NEW YORK—Carbon War Room released a study finding a link between the sustainability of buildings and the stock market performance of real estate investment trusts (REITs). The study, commissioned by Carbon War Room to the University of Cambridge, is titled, “The Financial Rewards of Sustainability: A Global Performance Study of Real Estate Investment Trusts.” REITs own and frequently operate income-producing real estate—and represent an increasing focus of energy-efficiency and renewable energy stakeholders. Modeled after mutual funds, REITs allow anyone to invest in portfolios of large-scale properties and typically offer high yields, providing investors with regular income streams, diversification, and long-term capital appreciation. For the purpose of this study, the University of Cambridge used a dataset provided by GRESB, the leading standard for sustainability performance measurement and benchmarking in the real estate industry. This data comes from the GRESB Survey of more than 442 detailed sustainability ratings for global REITs, from the period 2011 to 2014. The 2014 GRESB Survey covered 56,000 buildings with an aggregate value of $2.1 trillion.

PORTLAND, ORE.—This summer, the Oregon Convention Center will install what is anticipated to be one of the largest solar arrays on a convention center in the United States. More than 6,500 rooftop solar panels are expected to produce 25 percent of the facility’s electricity. Construction of the two megawatt project is scheduled to begin in August and the system is expected to be in service this fall. “One of our core values is sustainability,” said convention center Executive Director Scott Cruickshank. “The rooftop solar installation will help us meet our carbon emission reduction goals, offset utility costs and provide an important learning opportunity for our convention center visitors and guests.” “I want to personally thank our partners at Pacific Power Blue Sky renewable energy program and Energy Trust of Oregon for supporting this installation,” Cruickshank added. “Their financial support made it possible to expand the original project scope of 1.1 MW to 2.0 MW, with no upfront costs borne by the facility or the taxpayers.”